Improvements in healthcare, diets, safety, and other considerations are permitting people to live longer. Elderly people often prefer to retain their autonomy and their freedom and continue to live in their own homes as long as possible, rather than moving, for example, to a nursing home. Societies everywhere are becoming increasingly mobile and dispersed. Children who formerly settled close to their birthplace now may settle several hundreds of miles away from their birthplace, far from their parent's residence. Additionally, both men and women often work outside the home. Children may feel nervous about their elderly parent continuing to live in their own homes rather than in a nursing home, being concerned that if a medical crisis strikes their elderly parent it may be a long time before the crisis becomes known.